Junior Ben Bickerton is the first runner since cross country legend Chris Dugan to medal at the PIAA State Cross Country Championship. He was successful to hold the 22nd place thus earning him his medal.

“I went in expecting to medal, and based on my training I knew that I could,” said Bickerton.

To Bickerton’s advantage, he is currently being mentored by former Southmoreland Cross-Country runner Chris Dugan. Dugan was also the last person from Southmoreland to medal at the PIAA State Cross Country Championship.

“He (Dugan) is one of the best runners to come out of Southmoreland and he has been mentoring me since I was freshman,” Bickerton said. “Having that in mind it’s pretty cool knowing that I medaled.”

Bickerton will now be preparing himself for his upcoming track season in the spring, and run some indoor meets to give him a better idea of which events to focus on for outdoor track.

To many a surprise, Bickerton has only qualified for states his sophomore and junior year. He “missed by one spot” his freshman year at the WPIAL Championship.

Bickerton was accompanied by junior Riley Beistel and freshman Kaylee Farino of Scottdale. These athletes also greatly represented the Southmoreland Cross Country team by the success of Farino in 41st place and Beistel in 159th place.

Beistel was humbly excited when she heard news that she qualified for PIAA State Cross Country Championship for the third year in a row. She had no shame in “keeping it to herself” when she received news.

“There’s always a lot of runners around you seeing if they made it too, and if they didn’t, I don’t want to be someone who rubs it in,” said Beistel considerately.

Beistel made no excuses for her performance, however she knew she “could’ve done better.”

“I just wanted to run a good race because all of the girls up there are really good,” Beistel said. “I’ve done better in the past, but at this point, I’m just happy to have been there.”

Qualifying for States was another athletic “accomplishment” for Farino. She broke a fellow teammate’s school record at a meet, placed 6th at WPIAL Championship, qualified for states, and placed high as a freshman at the state meet.

“I was very nervous going into the meet, but after I got into it, I was confident,” said Farino. “The weather was perfect for running and I knew I was going to perform well.”

Farino’s confidence brought her to 41st place, however she was on track to finish in 33rd until a group of eight girls outsprinted her on the last downhill stretch.

“I was a little upset because I didn’t medal but overall I was happy because I ran my best time (20:15)”, said Farino. “Next year I’ll strive for the top 25 and medal.”

Farino’s main focus now is training for the upcoming track season in where she plans to make it to states and place.